Antebellum Culture and Reform

1. Antebellum Culture and Reform Chapter 12

2. Background • Americans felt that Europeans ignored American culture and the arts • For the most part this was true until American writers and artists embraced ROMANTICISM • An artistic movement that stressed personal emotion, free play of the imagination, and the freedoms from rules of form. • ANTEBELLUM—pre-Civil War America

3. Nationalism and Romanticism in American Paintings • Landscape paintings became popular • Showed the power of nature • Different than European landscapes which were calm and peaceful, American landscapes showed the power and hardships of nature • Hudson River School • New York School of art • Painted nature as a source of wisdom and spirituality • “Wild Nature” • Became the American representation of art in Europe

4. The Hudson School Paintings

5. Literature and the Quest for Liberation • Most Americans read British Adventure Novels • James Fennimore Cooper • 1st great American novelist • Wrote 30 novels in 30 years • Most of them were about adventure and suspense • Many included the harsh American wilderness • Novels were popular in the U.S. and in Europe • Last of the Mohicans

6. Literature and the Quest for Liberation • Walt Whitman • 1st great American Poet • Wrote poetry celebrating democracy and the liberation of the individual • Semi-openly homosexual artist

7. Literature and the Quest for Liberation • Herman Melville • Wrote novels about man vs. nature • Most of this characters experienced a “release of emotion” in the story, something that was usually frowned upon in popular culture • Melville was convinced that the human spirit was self destructive

8. Literature and the Quest for Liberation • Edgar Allen Poe • Poet of the Macabre • Wrote the first detective stories • People were freaked out by his subject matter and style

9. Literature and the Antebellum South • Sothern writers produced literature that romanticized the Plantation life style • They also defended slavery and did their best to discourage anti-slavery sentiment by vilifying and belittling African Americans

10. The Transcendentalists • A philosophical outlook on life that put… • Learning and intellectualism over instinct • Emotional understanding over intellect • Came from New England • Ralph Waldo Emerson • “Nature” • Wrote about the communion with the natural world • Was an ardent nationalist which was reflected in his writing • Henry David Thoreau • “Walden” • Stood against conforming to society • Was a proponent of living simply • Was an ardent abolitionist who partook in “civil disobedience” when he refused to pay a poll tax to a government that supported slavery

11. Visions of Utopia • Brook Farms • An experimental Community in Roxbury Massachusetts • Sought to fix the problems of common society • All residents would share equally in the labor and wealth and leisure • The project failed as people felt that equality of work and wealth was too difficult to achieve • Someone always had to do more or received more.

12. Redefining Gender Roles • Gender roles of the time were in flux • Oneida Community tried solving gender issues • All residents were “married” to all other residents • Children were raised communally • Liberated women from the demands of “Male Lust” • Shakers • Committed to celibacy • No one was born into Shakerism • Sought sexual equality • “refuge from the perversions of marriage”

13. The Mormons • Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints • Joseph Smith from New York publishes in 1830 The Book of Mormon • He claimed that he found a set of golden tablets he found in the hills of New York that were revealed to him by an Angel sent from God • The Tablets told the story of a lost Israelite tribe who found their way to the new world centuries before Columbus came to America • Jesus visited these people after his resurrection

14. The Mormons • People strayed from righteousness so God darkened their skin to show his disapproval—these people were the Native Americans • Smith moved his people around because they were persecuted finally arriving in Missouri where Smith was Jailed for treason when he tried to start his own country. • The townsfolk stormed the jail and shot Smith • Bringham Young took over and lead 12,000 to Salt Lake City

15. New Reform Movements • The 1840-1850 saw a cultural movement towards reforming societies social policies • Temperance • Education • Peace • Care of the poor • Care of the handicapped • Care of the mentally ill • Rights of woman • Treatment of Criminals (Asylum Movement, Prison Reform)

16. The Temperance Crusade • Temperance—the fight against alcohol • Mostly lead by women • Alcohol was a problem in America at this time • Average male in 1830’s drank 3 times the amount of alcohol as a modern man. • Why? • Drinking was a social practice and many people had more time to social activities • Farmers produced too much grain so they turned it into whiskey which drove down prices and made it cheap • Lots of legislative pressure to outlaw alcohol • Protestants vs. Catholic immigrants • Catholics claimed alcohol was a may of life and religious practice • Created a negative view of the “Drunk Irishman”

17. Medical Science • Phrenology • A medical practice that measured the shape of ones skull to indicate intelligence or character • Used to measure people’s “fitness” for careers or jobs • Discovery of Contagion • 1843 Oliver Wendell Holmes publishes an article discussing the idea that disease is spread from person to person • Changes the way the sick and ill are treated

18. Reforming Education • 1830’s saw interest in Universal Education • Public Education was born under state control • State and communities started building new schools, hiring more qualified teachers, and paying them more • Schools for the blind and deaf were established • By the start of the Civil War (1861) the United States had the highest literacy rate in the world

19. Indian Reservations • United States took a reform approach to the Indian problem in the 1840-1850’s • Policy changed from ‘relocation to where whites weren’t to avoid conflict’ TO ‘relocation to protected areas (reservations) to protect the Indians from white aggressors’ • Reservation lands were given special privileges and laws • Reservation lands were usually not very desirable

20. The Rise of Feminism • Woman played a huge role in the Reform Movement • 1830-1840’s a new idea spread that man and woman were created equal • Sarah and Angelina Grimke were abolitionists who men accused of participating in “inappropriate” acts because enacting social change and influencing government was “man’s work”

21. Seneca Falls • A group of female delegates from the US arrive in London at an antislavery conference and were turned away and not allowed to attend because they were women • Inspired by this outrage, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony organized a convention of their own at Seneca Falls New York to discuss women’s rights • They drafted the “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” asking for the right to vote, it was largely ignored. • Started the Woman’s Suffrage Movement

22. The Crusade Against Slavery Early Opposition to Slavery • In the early 1800’s most people with anti-slavery feelings were genteel and quiet. • The American Colonization Society proposed the gradual freeing of slaves by “purchasing” their freedom from their masters using privately raised funds • Freed slaves would be transported back to Africa • Some were freed and moved back to Africa where they would form the nation of Liberia in 1830 • Not greatly successful…why?

23. The Crusade Against Slavery Garrison and Abolitionism • William Lloyd Garrison—reinvigorated abolitionism in the 1830’s through his newspaper The Liberator • Garrison felt the only way to gain support was encourage white American’s to “put themselves in the shoes of the slaves” • Garrisons goal was to extend citizenship to the slaves • Founded the American Antislavery Society in 1833 • By 1838 there were over 250,000 members • General reform helped abolitionism become the strongest it had been in the nation’s history

24. The Crusade Against Slavery Black Abolitionists • Free blacks were often scared to be open abolitionists • Many free black subscribed to The Liberator and felt that the end of slavery would mean more freedoms for them • Frederick Douglas • Born a slave in Maryland and escaped to Mass. • Began speaking against slaver, toured England, returned to the US and bought his freedom • Wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas in 1845

25. The Crusade Against Slavery Anti-Abolitionism • Many people fought against abolitionism in the North and South because they felt it was dangerous…why? • Northerners feared an influx of freed black to the North…why? • Violence against abolitionist spread in the 1830’s Abolitionism Divided • Violence split the movement, some abolitionists called for a more moderate approach • On the other hand Garrison was now attacking the government and the constitution for putting up with slavery • This scared many would-be abolitionists • Garrison at one point called for Northern succession from the country